Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Festival
Date: 19 Mar 2011

7:15am, it is amazing to see that many people up and about at this hour. Carparks are almost full; if you come any later, you should bring a 4WD. That way, you can just drive up to any pavement and park anywhere you wish (ahem ahem). It is even more amazing to see the number of persons carrying DSLR cameras in one small area. All for a good reason too, it's the annual Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Festival! 

 

This is the DSLR-access area. What this means is, if you aren't carrying anything that looks like a DSLR, you will not be allowed entry to this area. Balloons are slowly being filled up with air, and you get to see balloons slowly "waking up" in the morning. Since I brought my photographer friend along with the DSLR, I didn't have access to this area. Reminder to self for next year: buy the plastic DSLR-lookalike to bluff the authorities.

 

We got too carried away snapping photos of balloons leaving. It all happened in an instant. Within 30 minutes, all the balloons seem to have disappeared from sight. Goodness, can't you hang around a little for me to get a photo of all of you together. Don't let out gas that quickly (pun intended!).

 This is one of the tethered balloon rides. Tickets began selling at 7:30am and were sold out within 20 minutes (when I was busy snapping photos). Reminder for next year, assign someone to queue up first!

 The crowd went wild when the theme song to Star Wars was played, and Darth Vader took to the skies.

Boo Hoo, nobody waited for me :(

This was my favourite part of the show. The highly addictive theme song to Doraemon played at full blast to bring out the kid in you. Everybody sang along when Xiao Ding Dang hovered for 30 minutes before leaving.

By 9:30am, if you hadn't secured tickets to the Tethered Balloon ride or pre-booked the Helicopter rides, you're left with nothing to do. Not quite, many funny games for you to take part in. Fancy being INSIDE a balloon? Or thrown into the water in a ball? Welcome to Zorbing - Malaysian style. Instead of rolling down a hill, you try to knock each other like bumper cars, or get thrown into a lake.

Reminder to self: Don't forget to bring Doggy along next time :) Balloons, cya next year!